FILNER INVESTIGATIONS MOVE ON DIFFERENT FRONTS

As updates swirl in sex harassment case, inquiries made about Sunroad, Paris trip

Federal, state and local investigators have been gathering information and building cases against San Diego Mayor Bob Filner beyond the sexual harassment accusations that have captured national attention.

The investigations have quietly moved forward amid near-daily revelations, from women making claims of lurid Filner behavior to the mayor ending his behavioral therapy early to locks being changed on the mayor’s office.

Key recent developments on the investigative front, according to sources and documents:

• Members of the mayor’s security detail provided information to investigators about Filner taking women to the downtown Westgate Hotel, among other things.

• A subpoena has been issued to Lee Burdick, Filner’s chief of staff, to have her testify under oath and provide her notes about issues involving Sunroad Centrum Partners, a developer that paid $100,000 to the city at the behest of the Filner administration before approval of its project was granted. The FBI has been inquiring about the transaction.

• As many as 30 City Hall employees, many of whom work in the mayor’s City Hall suite, have now been interviewed by investigators, mostly with the City Attorney’s Office, but also with the Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

• Three members of the Sheriff’s Department have been assigned to handle phone calls from a hotline set up for Filner accusers to report possible criminal misconduct and conduct follow-up interviews and investigations.

• In addition to agency investigations, City Council Audit Committee Chairman Kevin Faulconer is scheduled to announce Monday he will order key city officials to testify before his committee Sept. 9 about Filner’s June trip to Paris and the use of city-issued credit cards in connection with that trip.

On Saturday, Filner completed two weeks of intensive behavioral therapy, according to his law firm, though there were conflicting reports about the exact day it ended. He had said he was entering the program a week ago but on Friday unexpectedly declared his treatment complete, with aides saying he had secretly begun treatment early.

He plans to take the coming week for personal time and is not expected to make public comments, according to the law firm.

His return was coupled with news Friday that the locks had been changed on his office, which led to considerable speculation because there was no public explanation for the move. On Saturday, Burdick told the Voice of San Diego in an email that the locks were changed to protect the mayor because it was uncertain who had keys.

“… if anything was removed while the mayor was away, it could raise all kinds of questions about preservation or spoliation of potential evidence,” she told the Voice.

She has not responded to various requests from U-T San Diego for comment on the locks and the ongoing investigations.

Filner and the city have been sued for sexual harassment by Irene McCormack Jackson, the mayor’s former communications director. Goldsmith has filed a cross-complaint against Filner on behalf of the city.

Over the past week, the city attorney increasingly suggested a settlement could be the way out for Filner.